009 

5 
y 1 



REPORT ON WINES — ROCHESTER, 1864. 



. . __ — ^ . 

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ^ 



OP A PAET OP THE 



COMMITTEE OiST ^V^^INES 



AT THE 



f M f 0jfe f tetc ^gtimttttKal «^xWWti0« 



AX Rochestei', 1 804. 




><^ 1.* 



%\ti 



'■f 



:.) 



•s 



•>* 



y 



ALBANY: 

VAN BENTHUYSEN'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 
1865. 






I 



'^^ 



d'\ 



J> 



EEPORT ON WINES— ROCHESTER, 1864. 

Supplementary Report of a part of the Committee on Wines at the New York 
State Agricultural Exhibition at Eocheder, 1864. 



The undersigned have, on several occasions, been associated in commit- 
tees for the examination of domestic wines under the appointment and di- 
rection of this Society during- the past fifteen years. They have watched 
the progress of wine-making from its household production, composed of 
various of the smaller fruits — such as the currant, gooseberry, &c , as well 
as the grape, up to the wines from the established wine-producing vine- 
yards. 

All these household varieties of so-called " wines" have appeared at the 
annual exhibitions, and of the same general character, to wit : the expres- 
sed juice of the several fruits by the names of which they are called as 
prefixed to the article, as " Currant," " Gooseberry," " Blackberry," " Rasp- 
berry," &c., koines. They have been of about the same character and 
quality — some better than others, but all lacking the essential table and 
long-keeping qualities of true grape wines. Composed as they are (in 
addition to the juices of their fruits,) of water, sugar, and sometimes spirits, 
or alchohol, in their various cooking processes to complete their manufac- 
ture, we cannot call them wines, as usually understood. They are really 
cordials, excellent in their way, both useful and ornamental appendages to 
household luxury and social entertainment. 

We would not by any means discourage the making of these cordials as 
beverages; they are agreeable to many tastes, and harmless in their effects. 
They interest the attention of the wives and daughters of our farmers as 
well as other rural and village residents; are incentives to their ingenuity 
and promotive of a commendable rivalry in household production. They 
are articles in which all generous natures love, more or less, to indulge — 
laudable illustrations of female hospitality^ — a virtue like " a soft, gentle, 
and low voice;" as in Lear's Cordelia — "an excellent thing in woman." 

Household productions of this description, we respectfully recommend, 
should hereafter be placed at the Society's exhibitions in a class by them- 
selves as " cordials," rather than wines. They are not articles of the same 
character, in reality, althoup-h some of them be made chiefly of the grape, 
as they bear no commercial, or even consumptive relation to the products 
" proper" of the vineyard. 

WINES PROPER. 

The grape for the manufacture of wine has made considerable progress 
in its cultivation in the State of New York during the last ten years — the 
success which has attended wine production in some of the Western States 
1 



having stimulated its production here. As a general fact, our climate is 
too cold for the perfect production and maturity of the most successful 
wine grapes grown for that purpose in our best wine-producing States in 
the Mississippi Valley. Their warm season is longer, and their tempera- 
ture higher than ours, and the grapes from which tlieir best wines are 
made, as the Catawba, Isabella, and othei* varieties usually grown there, 
perfect their qualities better tlian with us. We, tlierefore, as a rule, labor 
under a disadvantage in the production of Avines of equal quality with 
theirs. Such, however, although it be a defect with tliose varieties of 
grape, need not prevent the wine-growers of New York from further trials 
with new varieties, which are well suited to our climates and soils, to 
achieve ultimate success in the production of wines of high quality and 
profitable sale. 

GRAPE SOILS. 

Facts, which have come within the cognizance of your Committee during 
several years past, and which ma}'- readilj'^ escape the ordinary'' observer, 
demonstrate that portions of our State may be made productive of good 
wines from grapes congenial to their soils, and developing their full quali- 
ties of excellence in our climate. Soil, altitude, position — topographical 
or geographical — the contiguity of hills, mountains, or considerable bodies 
of water, freedom from currents of the winds, &c., are, perhaps, the con- 
trolling features which render certain localities particularly favorable to 
the growth of the grape more than others, in foreign countries where wine 
is a leading article of production. The experience of our own grape culti- 
vators has proved it none the less so in this country. In several countries 
of Europe, some of the choicest varieties of their wines are produced only 
on a few contiguous acres occupying a marked position; while in the same 
vicinity, and but a little distance away, the same grape with the same cul- 
tivation produces an inferior wine; such are the Chateaux-Margaux, Cham- 
pagne, Tokay, Johannisberg, and others — the true wines of which, al- 
though closely imitated in otiier localities, are never approached in the pe- 
culiar, distinctive and excellent qualities of the originals. 

Such we are rapidly finding to be the case in America. Some peculiar 
quality of the soil in these spots is probably the cause of this difference in 
Europe. It may be equally so in America. Yet, with us, more marked 
differences exist. In one locality the grape flourishes and arrives at a high 
degree of perfection in its qualities, while in another locality of different 
altitude, or position of relative surroundings the same grape will scarcely 
grow or ripen at all. Familiar instances of such character are well known, 
as in the valley of the Hudson, or the south shore of Lakes Ontario and 
Erie, and the shores and vicinities of the interior small lakes of Western 
New York. These may prove successful points of vineyard production in 
the future when planted with varieties of grape congenial to their soils, 
while throughout their intermediate regions the same fruits will scarce re- 
pay their cultivation. 

VARIETIES OP GRAPE. 

The American wine producer has had, for the most part up to the present 
time, but a blind and difficult path before him in which to achieve any con- 



3 

siderable degree of success. The European grape, although largely intro- 
duced here in numerous varieties in open out-door culture, has proved a 
signal failure. It mildetus. Though apparently successful for a time in 
some localties, its ultimate failure has been certain and its growth aban- 
doned. We have, therefore, been obliged to rely solely on grapes indige- 
nous to the soil, and these few in variety. The two leading grapes to 
which our attention has been directed, for years has been the Catawba and 
Isabella, both of Carolina origin as supposed, and requirirg long, hot sum- 
mers to perfect their qualities. Although ranking high as table grapes, 
their vinous qualities have been in chief request, and they have not deve- 
loped their full excellence in this State above the Highlands of the Hudson 
river, or latitude 41 J north. It is true that ftpecimens of high quality have 
been produced north of that parallel, but they have been specimens only. 
They are the exception, not the rule ; although the Isabella in particular 
has been largely cultivated. Not one year in four have they thorougly 
ripened as they do below the Highlands; where between Peekskill and 
Sandy Hook they are grown to their highest perfection; better even than 
at Cincinnati, two degrees of latitude further south. A strange feature in 
the Catawba grape has been developed within the last ten years. It was 
for a long time supposed that the neighborhood of Cincinnati was its pecu- 
liar home: that it there matured its qualities in a superior degree over any 
other point north. There lie a cluster of islands in Lake Erie near its west, 
erly boundary, six or eight miles northerly of its southern boundary on the 
peninsula of Sandusky Bay in Ohio, under the names of " Kelly's," "Put- 
in-bay," and the Bass Islands. These islands are exposed to all the incle- 
mencies of a latitude 200 miles north of Cincinnati, their soils a stiff clay 
loam, rich in quality, resting on a shelly lime rock, one to six feet below. 
Into these islands the Catawba grape has been introduced, and its fruit ex- 
ceeds in flavor and its wine in quality that produced in Cincinnati. The 
Isabella, and all tlie new varieties of native grape— of which latter Kelly's 
Island has produced several — are equally superior. This fact demonstrates, 
palpably, that climate alone does not control the qualit}^ of the grape. An- 
other strange feature of these islands is, that although exposed to all the 
inclemencies of an open lake 300 miles long and fifty miles broad, the 
spring is several days earlier thei'e than on the south shore of the lake in 
the region of Sandusky. Subsequent trials have also established the fact 
that for many miles along the main Ohio shore nearest these islands the 
Catawba and Isabella grapes gruw in high perfection, and the land is being 
rapidly appropriated to vine cultivation for wine purposes. How far these 
discoveries are to be extended in that vicinity is yet to be known. 

Your committee are aware that a portion of the above remarks are not 
strictly applicable to the subject of New York wine culture, but as they 
embody facts which may find their parallels with us, we have not deemed 
them altogether out of place in this report. To relieve the difficulty here- 
tofore existing in the want of varieties of grape adapted to our climate 
and soils, the attention of our Northern vine growers has been directed for 
several j'ears past to hybridizing the fruit of our established kinds, and 
producing from their seeds new varieties. In this they have been most 
successful, although with some of them, as the Delaware and a few others, 



their parentage is not distinctly settled. With others, their orig-in has 
been satisfactorily established, and from the adaptation of several of the 
new kinds to our soils and climate, together with the favorable promise of 
some others, we have little doubt that we are fast approachiug the time 
when New York will abound in several varieties of grape from which, even 
in our comparatively high latitude, may be produced large quantities of 
wine, valuable not only for domestic consumption, but in some extent to 
supply the demands of commerce. The Hartford Prolific, Concord, Dela- 
ware, Diana, Clinton, Allen's Hybi'id, are already established as suitable 
to our climate, in general, while some others of more recent introduction 
are on trial, and may be equal, or even superior in various qualities, to 
those already proved. The Catawba and Isabella, even, although the most 
tardy of the better grapes, do ripen, as is claimed by their cultivators, in 
certain localities of our State above latitude 41|; and excellent wines and 
brandies have been made from them at Pleasant Valley, at the head of 
Crooked Lake, in the county of Steuben, for example ; but the committee 
have not ascertained that the full perfection of their qualities in the secre- 
tion of grape sugar and the concentrated maturity of the fruit, only to be 
obtained from the long shining of an October sun in a mild atmosphere, 
has been altogether developed, as at Kelly's Island and Cincinnati. 

VARIETIES OF WIxVE FROM OUR NATIVE GRAPE. 

The kinds of wine chiefly j^et produced from our native grapes have 
been the light, dry, still wines, and the "sparkling" similar to the effer- 
vescing " Hocks '' of Europe. The Isabella and Catawba grapes have 
both produced the former, and the Catawba, mainly, the latter. Some 
other varieties have produced wines of somewhat like character, but they 
have been tried mostly as experiments. We saw a sample of still wine at 
the late exhibition in Rochester, made by M Brehm*, a young farmer lo- 
cated at Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y., from the Diana, which we considered 
«qual to any American wine within our knowledge. The wines of the 
Pleasant Valley Wine Company before named, were also good of their 
kind. They showed at Rochester the " still " and the " sparkling " wines; 
also imitations of Claret and Port wines in color, and quite tolerable in 
taste, both from the Catawba and Isabella grape ; and we think, had the 
warm season been longer, and the grapes still riper than they had time to 
become in their locality, the wine would have been better. Our opinion, 
most decidedly, is that those two grapes, even in so favorable a place as 
Pleasant Valley, will be superseded by earlier varieties, which, if not now 
in existence, will yet be discovered or invented. 

The early grapes which we have named have not yet been tried to a 
sufficient extent to prove thoroughly their wine-producing qualities. They 
have chiefly been tested and judged as table grapes ; and on this virtue 
their merits have been properly decided. They have as yet been but par- 
tially tested for wine, and when properly done, may prove all that is 
needed in that particular. Nor do we consider that the edible qualities of 
the grape are at all to govern their qualities for wine. The astringent, 



* F. C. Brehm, Waterlooj exhibited Diana wine. 



harsh and offensive taste of a grape may render it worthless for the table, 
and these offensive qualities, when properly commingled in the press and 
vat, may be all the better for wine. It is so with some European varieties, 
and why may it not be with American ? We are yet neophytes in both 
grape culture and wine-making in New York, and hardly beyond that, 
with the exception of what may be termed "common wines," in any part 
of America. We have known the Cincinnati and otlier Western wines for 
years. They are good, of their kind, and will undoubtedly become of ex- 
tended production and increased consumption to an indefinite degree. But 
we have yet to see anything like an approach to the Sherries, the Madei- 
ras, the genuine Champagnes, the Clarets, the Ports, and many other of 
the choice wines of Europe, and dare not predict the day when they will 
be produced on this side of the Atlantic. It is not yet ascertained that we 
possess the combinations of soil and climate to produce them. The grapes 
that produce them there will certainly not produce them here ; and if we 
ever do produce those wines, the grapes to make them have yet to be 
invented. 

So successful have been the efforts of the Pleasant Valley Wine Com- 
pany in the cultivation of the grape and the production of wine in their 
favored locality, and so much gratified were your committee with their 
samples of the grapes and wines at the Rochester exhibitions of 1862 and 
1864 — at both of which we officiated as judges of their articles — that we 
appointed a time, and intended to make a visit there for our personal in- 
spection in October last; but our domestic engagements and the extremely 
unfavorable state of the weather prevented. To supply this deficiency 
however, we have the opportunity of laying before you a timely report of 
" Pleasant Valley," made by Hon. Henry S. Randall LL. D., to the Rural Neio 
Yorker in November last, which embodies the essential part of the infor- 
mation we desired. It is of such interest in developing the progress of 
wine culture in our State, that we ask its insertion as a part of our report. 

The Vineyards and Wine Manufactures at Pleasant Valley, N. Y, by Henry 

S. Randall, LL. D. 
"On a pleasant forenoon towards the close of October, General 0. F. 
Marshall and myself left his residence in Wheeler, Steuben county, on a 
visit to our good friends, Aaron Y. Baker, Charles D. Champlin and Grat- 
ton H. Wheeler. After proceeding several miles and surmounting a ridge 
of hills, we looked down their eastern slopes on a comparatively level val- 
ley about three miles long and one wide. North of it Crooked Lake fills 
the chasm between the hills ; south the land becomes broken and elevated. 
The ridge of hills which hem in the valley on the east and west are about 
one thousand feet high. The eastern and much of the western range are 
yet covered with pine, oak and chestnut ; the dark green, crimson and 
russet verdure of which, touched by the October frosts, contrasted finely 
with the emerald hue of the grass ; and, on the whole, I decided in my own 
mind that Pleasant Valley is not a misnomer for the region which was 
lying under my eye. The village of Hammondsport is situated at the 
head of the lake. It is seven hundred feet above tide water. A steam- 
boat plies between it and Penn Yan. 



6 

"Isabella and Catawba grapes were introduced into Pleasant Valley 
about thirty years ago by the Rev. Wm. Bostwick, and Avere found to 
flourish admirably ; to be quite as sure, if not surer, than any farm crop, 
and to be wholly unsubject to disease of any kind. 

"In 1853 or 1854, Andrew Resinger, a German vine-dresser, came into 
Pulteney, eight miles north of Hammondsport, and planted about an acre 
and a half of the hill-side on the banks of the lake with Catawbas and Isa- 
bellas — mostly the former. The soil was a heavy clay, and he trenched it 
in the German mode two and a half feet deep. Resinger's experiment was 
rather a failure, and was ultimately abandoned by him. But in the year 
1855, Orlando Shepherd and Judge Jacob Larrowe, finding how well grape 
culture succeeded at Avon, in Livingston county, brought vines from there 
to Pleasant Valley, and set out about half an acre each on the hill-side 
near Hammondsport. 

"The minds of the people in the Valley have received a strong impetus 
towards grape culture from several causes. Tlie first of these was the 
uniform prolificacy and excellence of the grape on their lands under almost 
any treatment ; second, the great success and profits of Longworth and 
others at Cincinnati in its culture, and the example already named nearer 
by in Avon, and also that of a Mr. McKay, of Naples, Ontario county, who 
had ciiltivated a vineyard of several acres from about 1848 with great 
profit; and finally the agricultural newspapers at that period were specially 
engaged in calling attention to the subject. An influx into the neighboi'- 
hood of industrious and honest German emigrants familiar with grape cul- 
ture and wine-making gave the people an opportunity to obtain further 
information on the subject. They became satisfled that their soil and cli- 
mate were adapted to that culture, and the Germans supplied them with 
experienced laborers. They, therefore, did not wait the result of Shep- 
herd's and Larrowe's experiment. In 1858, both of these gentlemen in- 
creased their vineyards to two or three acres each ; Bell & McMaster set 
out six or eight acres of vines ; Gratton H. Wheeler, four acres; Edwin P. 
Smith, two acres; Charles D. Champlin, one acre; Stanley B. Fairchild, one 
acre ; and Thnothy M. Younglove, one acre. 

" In the fall of 1858, Aaron Y. Baker of Pleasant Valley, went to Ohio 
and examined the vineyard at Kelley's Island, four hundred acres of which 
were probably then in bearing. He brought back 30,000 cuttings, and his 
report of what he saw further stimulated the enterprise of his townsmen. 
But we can no longer trace the history'- of individual enterprise. In 
1859 and 1860, full two hundred acres of vines were set out. The sur- 
face since planted has extended to at least a thousand acres, four hundred 
of which are already in bearing. The present vineyard region extends 
along the hill slopes on the west side of Pleasant Valley, and the west 
shore of Crooked lake for a distance of ten or twelve miles. The favorite 
grape is the Catawba. The Isabella is considerably cultivated, but the 
wine it produces is inferior in quality. An acre of land yields on an aver- 
age 4,000 pounds of grapes. The prices paid for them per pound in the 
bulk as they came from the field at the wine cellar presently to be men- 
tioned, have averaged as follows: 



7 

Catawbas. Isabellas. 

1860 6 cents. 4 cents. 

1861 6 do 4 do 

1862 6 do 4 do 

1863 7 do 5 do 

1864 9 do 6 do 

"In 18G0 and 1861 the crop was about an average one; in 1862 it was 
very large — A. Y. Baker's crop and probably some others yielding 9,300 lbs. 
to the acre; in 1863 the crop was a little above an average one; in 1864 
it was below, but of very fine quality. 

" When a vineyard is to be set out, the ground is plowed and trench 
plowed eighteen or twenty inches deep, the large stones removed, and then 
it is read}' for planting. The vineyards are nearly all on the hill-sides, and 
frequently where the ascent is decidedly abrupt. Some are plowed into ter- 
races four or five feet wide, but in more of them the vines are planted ou 
the natural surface. In some of them the rows run directly or obliquely up 
up and down the hills; in others along their sides. The rows are eight 
feet apart, and the vines seven feet apart in the rows. The roots are set 
in the spring, and commence bearing in three years; but the third year 
they only pay expenses. The fourth year the crop is a full one. The vines 
are fastened to trellises. Ash or chestnut stakes five feet high are set in 
the ground about twenty-one feet apart in the rows, and they are strung 
with three No. 12 wires. Some place them about eight feet apart, and use 
wooden slats instead of wires. 

"No manure is used until the vines have been cropped two or three 
years. Then they receive a very light dressing of well composted barn- 
yard manure; and this is repeated annually on the poorer portions of the 
vineyard. Even a trifling excess of manure injures the quality of the crop 
the year it is applied. The vines are pruned almost exclusively by Ger- 
mans, and according to the German system, except that a little greater 
length of bearing wood is left. The rule is to allow a fruit bud for every 
square foot of surface. It is believed that in a good vineyard the 
vines will last at least one hundred years. 

"The picking of early varieties of the grape for the table commences 
the first of September; for wine about the 10th of October. It is done by 
women. The best quality of fruit is first picked for wine, and second is 
left on the vines and afterwards picked for brandy. The pickers remove 
with picking-shears all the unripe or imperfect berries, and then place the 
clusters in boxes or half-barrel tubs. These are carried directly to the wine 
house, weighed, and accounted for as grain is accounted for in grain ware- 
houses. 

" The grapes are first mashed in a wine-mill (Hickock's), and dropped 
directly into large fermenting vats, or on the press. The larger portion of 
the wine from the vats and all from the press is drawn directly by means 
of a hose into wine casks in the cellar. The " mash" (or pommace) which 
remains behind is left to ferment in the vats, and the succeeding spring is 
distilled for brandy. The wine in a portion of the vats, however, is left to 
ferment on the skins for the manufacture of red wines. 

"This wine and brandy manufacture was entered upon under the auspi- 
ces of Mr. John F. Weber, a German of intelligence and much experience 



8 

in the business, as well as in everything connected with grape culture. 
He was connected with the United States patent office for some years prior 
to 1860. In the last named year the Pleasant Valley Wine Company was 
formed, and Mr. Weber assumed the superintendency of its mechanical 
and manufacturing affairs. It organized with a capital of $10,000 — the 
corporators being William Baker, Aaron Y. Baker, Charles D. Champlin, 
Gratton H. Wheeler, T. M. Yonnglove, D. Rose, G. H. Brmidage, E. Brun- 
dage, Bell & McMasters, Dugald Cameron and J. W. Davis. An arched 
wine vault, a press house, a propagating house, etc., all excellently con- 
structed of stone, were erected about a mile and a half from Hammond- 
sport. Many thought it a very visionary undertaking, but in 1862 the capi- 
tal stock was doubled. Two or three of the original corporators have sold 
out. The present directors are the original corporators, with the excep- 
tion of William Baker, Esq., deceased. The present officers are Gratton 
H. Wheeler, president and C. J). Champlin, secretary and treasurer. 
" The manufactures of the company have been as follows: 

In 1860 were manufactured , 35,990 lbs. of grapes. 

1861 do .38,988 do 

1862 do 271,825 do 

1863 do 192,476 do 

1864 do 400,000 do 

The manufactures of 1864 are not yet completed. 

" The wines manufactured are principallj' of the dry varieties, bearing 
the names of the Still Catawba, Isabella and Claret. Those of the three 
first vintages, and most of the fourth, are sold. This year they have com- 
menced making a champagne of Catawba grapes, which is considered a 
good article. Huge quantities of grapes are put up in boxes and sent 
away for sale. Several of the most extensive growers are putting up 
stone storehouses to preserve them through winter for table use. 

"Great has been the change eflFected in the appearance of things and in 
the value of property in Pleasant Valley by this new husbandry. The 
steep hill-sides where the vineyards are now growing luxuriantly would 
have been prized, a very few years since, as worth not to exceed fifteen or 
twenty dollars an acre for ordinary agricultural purposes; nor should I 
now value most of them I passed over at higher than twenty- five dollars, 
or thirty dollars an acre at the outside for such purposes. But in good, 
eligible situations for grape culture they now command from two hundred 
dollars to three hundred dollars per acre, and where set with vines and in 
bearing they command one thousand dollars per acre. The statistics above 
given were obtained from authoritative sources, and they are reliable." 

Your committee have little doubt that there exists other as favorable 
localities in the State for grape culture as Pleasant Valley, and that they 
will be improved by the enterprise of our people. The cultivation of the 
grape has thus far been sufficiently successful to stimulate large additional 
numbers of our pomologists to its pursuit. 
Respectfully, 

LEWIS F. ALLEN, of Erie. 
JOHN A. KING, of Queens. 
ALEXANDER THOMPSON, of Cayuga 



/ 



n't',*:i 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



000 918 521 5 



